Beckham book tops book league

Beckham has "pressed the flesh" around Britain promoting his book, "My World"

LONDON, England (Reuters) - British celebrity footballer David Beckham has scored a winner with a book, knocking The Beatles off the top slot of the book charts.

The Manchester United soccer star has spent the last three weeks touring the nation's bookstores for signings, accompanied by his pop star wife Victoria and their baby, Brooklyn.

His stamina paid off. Football fans, teenage girls and pensioners have snapped up 200,000 copies of "My World," notching up more sales than "The Beatles Anthology," publishers Hodder & Stoughton, a division of retailers W.H. Smith, said.

"It's been great being number one and I just want to say a huge thank you to all the fans who turned up to the signings and bought this book. Their support has been fantastic," Beckham said in a statement.

Beckham's publishers said he wrote "My World" himself. But they said he received "help" from football journalist Matt Dickinson and writer Rebecca Cripps.

Beckham at a recent signing for his book which has sold 200,000 copies and propelled him to the top of the best-sellers' list

A spokeswoman said it contained "more pictures than words.

" It's not an autobiography, it's more a coffee table book... it's about his growing up, his life up until now," she said.

Veteran talk-show host Michael Parkinson dubbed Beckham "a modern British icon," when he bagged the star's first major TV interview last week, pulling in the second-highest viewing figures in the show's history.

Beckham's literary coup came after his Spice Girl wife made pop history this week.

The Spice Girls quartet scored their ninth number one single, making them the most successful female group ever.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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